


The Look in His Eyes

by dolphinsarrow28



Series: The Look in His Eyes [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Character Bashing, Dumbledore Bashing, F/M, Ginny Weasley Bashing, Hermione Granger Bashing, M/M, Molly Weasley Bashing, Multi, Ron Weasley Bashing, Weasley Bashing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2018-12-17 23:14:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11861634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dolphinsarrow28/pseuds/dolphinsarrow28
Summary: Even at 9 years old, Harry Potter knew something wasn’t quite right. The Dursley’s were horrible people. They beat him, starved him, neglected him; until now he never knew it was wrong of them. He often wondered what he had done wrong for him to lose his parents. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had said it was his fault they died in a car crash and got stuck with him. If they looked in his eyes, they would know that now everything has changed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: I do not own Harry Potter, if I did, Harry would be gay, there would be a lot, I mean a lot, of sex, Dumbledore and Ginny would both be dead, and I would be a very rich person. Severus would never have died. There is Good Voldemort, Malfoys, Good Harry, Evil Dumbledore, Weasley Bashing in this story. Warning: attempted rape in prologue and in chapter 1. There are headings that show when the scenes start and end so you can skip them if the subject is a trigger for you. 
> 
> The main pairings are Harry Potter and Regulus Black, Tom Riddle (Voldemort) and OFC, and Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Others will be added as I go and I may or may not tag all the other characters I bring into the story.
> 
> Understand that this prologue is subject to change as I am currently working on the first batch of the story, minus the prologue, before I post it, so there may be more added to the prologue as I work on the first batch of the story. I just wanted to get the prologue up because as of right this moment is as done as I want it to be. I am hoping to turn this into a multistory fic.

Prologue

Even at 9 years old, Harry Potter knew something wasn’t quite right. The Dursley’s were horrible people. They beat him, starved him, neglected him; until now he never knew it was wrong of them. He often wondered what he had done wrong for him to lose his parents. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had said it was his fault they died in a car crash and got stuck with him.

For years, he thought his name was boy, it, or freak. Until he started primary school, then he couldn’t figure out why everyone called him Harry. Until Aunt Petunia beat him with a skillet and told him his name, while at school, was Harry. But at home it would only ever be freak, boy, or it.

Every night he dreamed. Fantastical beasts, magic, and people took up his every thought as he slept. He knew he was different, he could sense it, feel it even. All the times he made things happen was when he was frightened or scared, which happened way more than any 9-year-old should ever have to deal with.

During the day Harry cooked and he cleaned. He took out the trash, cleared the flower beds of weeds, in rain or shine, and made sure that the inside and outside walls, doors, and ceilings were touched up and not peeling from being exposed to the weather or natural aging.

He saw Vernon looking at him tonight after his dinner scotch. He didn’t know what that look meant, but he was more scared than he had ever been before. He had bent down to vacuum under the couch and had heard a noise escape from his uncle. He had a feeling something would happen that night. When he went to the kitchen to empty the vacuum, he grabbed a knife, smuggled it under his shirt and tucked it into his pants, careful not to let it cut him. It would be needed.

 

**ATTEMPTED RAPE SCENE**

 

Harry awoke with a cry and struggled to get away from the pain. “Shut up, freak” came a hiss from above him. Harry recognized the voice and berated himself for falling asleep. It was Uncle Vernon, the large man gripped Harry’s arm tightly, fingernails imbedded into the boy’s skin. It was then he realized the man was struggling to lower Harry’s pants, the fat man couldn’t get a grip as Harry struggled to get away. Harry kicked out at his uncle, connecting with the man’s groin. Vernon dropped Harry’s arm to grab at his crotch. Harry reached under his pillow to grab the knife. Holding it up, anger and rage darkened the normal emerald green eyes to jade.

“Don’t touch me” Harry yelled, he figured out what the man had been trying to do. Just because he was nine didn’t mean he didn’t know what sex was or what some men and women did to little boys and girls. He had heard the whispers at school, had heard the talks given by the grownups, what they should do but Harry knew if he screamed for help, no one would come to help him, Aunt Petunia would ignore it thinking Vernon was just beating the crap out him like normal and Dudley slept like the dead after pigging out on snacks before bed.

Vernon stopped grabbing himself, his face purple, with rage and pain. “I can do what I wish with you boy, this is my house.” The fat man lunged towards Harry. Harry closed his eyes and brought the knife up. His arm and hand jarred when the knife made a hard impact with Vernon’s arm.

There was a loud thump and screaming, when Harry opened his eyes. The knife was now lodged in the fat man’s flesh, in his upper arm. Harry could hear thudding above his head and knew his Aunt Petunia was coming to them after having heard her husband scream.

Petunia saw Harry’s pants had been lowered, she was disgusted with her husband, she had seen the looks and ignored them thinking Vernon would never attempt that and had shaken it off as if she had never seen it. “What were you thinking? Stay still” she screeched as she went to get the first aid kit.

 

**END SCENE**

 

She called an ambulance on her way back with the kit to put pressure on the wound. She forced her husband to stand and make his way to the kitchen. They had to make the first responders think it was an accident.

She returned and shut the door to the cupboard, locking it. “Go back to bed freak!”

“I’m sorry Petunia, I’m sorry” Vernon blubbered. “It was the freak’s fault, he must have made me want to do it.” Petunia said nothing to her husband just glared at him. “If I find out you have laid one hand on my Duddikins, I will castrate you. Don’t ever touch the boy that way again either, we are only being paid to keep him submissive and beaten down. If he is too broken and beaten, he won’t be any use to the old freak who wants him to go to that freakish school of his.”

Vernon assured his wife that he had never touched their son. That freak of high freaks paid them to beat on the freak he left with them; she even remembered him stressing not to touch him sexually. Petunia found herself wondering if that Dumbledore person knew her husband’s afflictions. Petunia vowed to herself to check with Dudley to verify it. Moments later she heard the ambulance pull up and went to open the door for the emergency response team. After they took Vernon to the hospital, Petunia went to check on her son, she felt lucky that her son was such a sound sleeper and had slept through it all. It was several hours before dawn and would need to make sure her and Dudley were at the hospital to see Vernon. She decided to catch a few hours of sleep first, she would need it to keep her head to deal with Vernon, the police, and the hospital in the morning. Petunia sighed and made her way back to her bed. She was out the moment her head hit the pillow.    


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has just turned 11, this story will be AU. Harry will have doubts about everything. This is NOT a dark Harry fic. My Harry may be more ambiguous than cannon Harry, meaning light and dark, mostly grey. He will truly embody the spirit of neutrality, at least that’s what I am going for lol.  
> 6/11/18: Hey all sorry its been awhile but I am back from the grave, just about literally, I got really sick for a while but am doing much better now, it just took sometime to get my energy and enthusiasm back to start writing again. Just gave this chapter a quick update adding some questions that Harry has about Sirius Black after his conversation with Ragnok. I am doing an edit of the chapters already posted and will be posting a few new chapters in the next week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I revamped The Sacred 28 into The Sacred 31.  
> The Sacred 28, REVAMPED:  
> Original Sacred 28: Abbott, Avery, Black, Bulstrode, Burke, Carrow, Crouch, Fawley, Flint, Gaunt, Greengrass, Lestrange, Longbottom, Macmillian, Malfoy, Nott, Ollivander, Parkinson, Prewett, Rosier, Rowle, Selwyn, Shacklebolt, Shafiq, Slughorn, Travers, Weasley, and Yaxley.  
> My Sacred 31: added Peverell, Prince, and Potter to the original list to make it the Sacred 31 instead.  
> This fic will be updated whenever I have a batch of chapters to post, so please bear with me as I work on the story, unfortunately there can be a long wait in between but this story will NOT be abandoned, I have put too much work into it and it’s my baby. Check out my other fic if you haven’t already and tell me what you think. It’s called “It’s All Different”, it’s a continuation/inspiration of Fire and Ice by LynnWiley.  
> Individual thoughts are in italics. Letters to people are done in italics and underlined. Parseltongue is bold and underlined, including any and all parselmagic that Harry or Tom Riddle/Voldemort may do. Spells are underlined along with what’s taken directly or indirectly from the movies and books. Speaking of which, the exact wording may not be exact in all cases but the general wording should be close, very close in some instances.

Please read the above notes, Thanks!

The last few weeks had gone by quickly. Since his first letter had arrived to the last bout of letters that came en masse into the house, Uncle Vernon had become paranoid and both his aunt and uncle had become even more violent with him. Uncle Vernon had taken them away to a house on an island and a large, hairy man broke after Harry had wished himself a happy birthday.

The man who had broken into the ramshackled house was named Hagrid. He told Harry he was a wizard and then handed him a letter similar to the one the Dursley’s had been trying to keep from him. As he read, he could hear Vernon bluster that he would not be going. His ears perked up when his parents were mentioned.

“You knew? You knew and you never told me!” Harry accused his aunt and her husband.

“How could I not? My perfect sister” she spat. “Isn’t it wonderful? We have a witch in the family. Lily was always strange. Just as abnormal as you and that Potter that she married. Just as that freaky longhaired boy she befriended before she went to that _school_ ” she sneered. “Then if you please, she went and got herself blown-up and we got landed with you” she stated loudly.

“Blownup? You told me they died in a car crash!”

“A car crash? Why it’s an outrage, it’s a scandal,” sputtered Hagrid.

“He will not be going I tell you” Vernon stated firmly. His face was turning a dark red, his anger welling up for all to see.

Harry just listened and watch as Hagrid went toe to toe with Petunia and Vernon. He sighed when he saw his cousin eating the cake that Hagrid had baked for him. Then laughed when Dudley, Petunia, and Vernon started to freak out over the pigs tail that Hagrid had given to his cousin in revenge for Vernon insulting Dumbledore. Hagrid made plans with Harry to bring him to Diagon Alley to get his school supplies the next day.

\--*--**--*--

After the ruckus his appearance caused at that place, what was it? _Oh, right the Leaky Cauldron._ Harry knew that more had happened in his life than he could remember. He had the feeling that it had to do with his parents dying and him being left with Vernon and Petunia.

For now, Harry looked over the school supplies list that Hagrid had handed to him along with his letter, as he read it aloud he wondered on several items, what was a familiar, were dragons actually real, and wasn’t it a stereotype to have witches and wizards using cauldrons and riding brooms?

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

  1. Three sets of plain workrobes (black)
  2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
  3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
  4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)



Please note that all pupils’ clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners’ Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Draughts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad. ******Bonded familiars are allowed, this is the only exception to the list of allowable pets.******

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

He mentally shook his head, bloody hell this new world was strange. He couldn’t say he wasn’t excited though. He chattered to Hagrid, who looked upon him with an indulging smile, about the items on the list, know his life has been forever altered.

\--*--**--*--

Harry's run in with the young blonde at Madam Malkins left a bad taste in his mouth. But Hagrid's declaration about Slytherins seemed almost like he was spouting propaganda. Like it was something that was only true of Slytherins, but Harry knew that couldn't be right. Not everyone bad would only come out of one of the Houses of Hogwarts. There had to be more to this. Harry knew he wasn’t a super genius; yes, he was smart when his aunt or uncle allowed him to apply himself, but he knew when to keep his intelligence hidden and when to use it to his own advantage. Something was up at this school and Harry aimed to find out what it was.

As it was Harry was suspicious that Hagrid had his trust vault key for Gringotts. That didn’t sit well with the young Boy-Who-Lived. When they sat down to dinner Hagrid had to pull everything out of his pocket to find his coin to pay for their meals. Harry deliberately bumped his water glass to the floor by the large man, when Hagrid reached down to get it, Harry snatched his key from the man. His magic had told him which it was, it knew it belonged to Harry, so Harry knew it was only right to keep it. After all, why would someone he barely knew have a key to the money his parents had left him? It didn’t make any sense, no sense at all.

\--*--**--*--

Harry only had a few days before he was to be at the train station to head to his new school. With that in mind, he had made a list of extra items that he wanted to take with him and the first item was a school trunk and books about the wizarding world; he wanted to learn as much as he could about his new world. Hagrid had mentioned it but they had run out of time, so Hagrid had said he would stop by and pick one up and have it delivered. Harry assured Hagrid that he already had a trunk, even though it was a total lie. Harry wanted to go back to Diagon Alley on his own and pick up the items and maybe stop back into the wizarding bank first.

He wanted to see if maybe there were some items waiting in his trust vault from his parents. He hoped there was something other than money in the vault, he wanted to know about his parents, what kind of people they truly were.

The day before he had told his Aunt Petunia that Hagrid was coming back to get him in the morning and he was to wait down the block for him to pick up Harry. His aunt grimaced, and Harry assure her that the reason for this was to keep the contact between his aunt and uncle and Hagrid at a minimum, which cheered her up nicely since it meant she didn’t have to see one of **them** for a while longer.

That morning he waited till his aunt was shower, he snuck to the phone to call a taxi. He set up to meet the taxi down the block in an hours’ time. That gave him time to make Aunt Petunia and Dudley’s breakfast, Uncle Vernon had already left for work and said he’d grab something on his way in.

Aunt Petunia only swatted his head twice for making the eggs dry, even though they were fluffy and perfect to Harry, who had eaten a little of them before placing the rest on plates just as Aunt Petunia and Dudley came into the room. Once done, Aunt Petunia said he could have the leftover scraps from her plate after Dudley had finished everything else on the table.

While Petunia took Dudley to school, Harry quickly ate and showered. From there he dressed in one of the day robes from Madam Malkin’s and quickly set off to wait for the taxi. Once it arrived he directed him to the part of London where he could find the Leaky Cauldron. He paid the driver with the pounds he had swiped from his aunt’s purse. He hoped he could replace it before she noticed it was missing. He felt bad for stealing but had no way to pay for the taxi as he didn’t have any money on him. He hoped he could find out where he could exchange a little of his trust money for pounds, so he could do some shopping for clothes other than wizarding attire for when he was home. That way he didn’t have to wear Dudley’s ragged castoffs anymore.

\--*--**--*--

Harry was a little concerned as to how people would react to seeing an 11-year old alone, though he didn’t think much of it since had seen several other school age children running around when he had been here with Hagrid. When Harry arrived at his destination, he exited the taxi and made his way into the Leaky Cauldron. First, he went into the bathroom and arranged his hair to cover his scar. It wouldn’t be helpful if anyone was to see it and delay his outing. He was on a mission.

Next, he headed to the entrance to Diagon Alley, he got there just as an elderly couple was exiting and he waited to the side as they passed without seeing him. Swiftly he went through and headed down the alley to his first stop, Gringotts.

He waited his turn in line and when asked handed his key over to the teller. The goblin was very intimidating. He flashed his sharp teeth at Harry, who shivered in response, a slight gleam made its way onto the creature’s face.

“What can I do to assist you today Heir Potter?” asked the goblin who introduced himself as Techrok.

Harry tilted his head to the right, “Heir Potter” he questioned aloud. The goblin stared at him for a moment before hitting a button next to his desk. Another goblin quickly joined the teller and began to rapidly speak in their own language.

The second goblin left and returned with a third goblin, the way he walked spoke of confidence and a hierarchy adhered to in the bank. Any other goblin in his way moved to the side and the new goblin made his way to Techrok’s side. They spoke for a moment and the new goblin motioned for Harry to follow him.

Harry glanced quickly at Techrok who said for him to follow the other goblin. Harry had to practically run to catch up and was ushered into a luxurious office that was twice the size of the Dursley’s kitchen.

He waited until the goblin said he could sit before seating himself to face the goblin.

The goblin studied Harry for a moment before speaking. “Heir Potter, my name is Ragnok and I am the head of the England branch of the Gringotts Bank; it seems somethings have not been told to you, including the fact that you have the title of Heir of your family line until you become of age to take the title of Lord Potter. The hows and the whys of this are…troubling to me and as well as to Techrok who brought it to my attention. The same could be said of the goblin nation as a whole. You see, you are set to become one of the most powerful and wealthy members of wizarding society upon your seventeenth birthday and as such, your magical guardian was to have given you this information in advance, usually the training starts upon your fifth birthday. For some unknown reason, this has not yet been done and it is curious as to why you haven’t been told.”

Harry just sat there, stunned. The whos, hows, whens, wheres, whats of it all crowded in his head, all vying for space to be the first question asked.

“My father was a lord? Who is my magical guardian? Do you know of any reason as to why I would not have been told about this?”

“Yes, your father was a lord. The Potters are a member of the Sacred 31. The houses belonging to the Sacred 31 are Abbott, Avery, Black, Bulstrode, Burke, Carrow, Crouch, Fawley, Flint, Gaunt, Greengrass, Lestrange, Longbottom, Macmillian, Malfoy, Nott, Ollivander, Parkinson, Peverell, Prewett, Prince, Potter, Rosier, Rowle, Selwyn, Shacklebolt, Shafiq, Slughorn, Travers, Weasley, and Yaxley.”

“The nobility of the Wizarding World is separated into three categories. These are The Noble and Most Ancient Houses, The Most Ancient Houses, and The Most Noble Houses. The Potters lie in the category of The Noble and Most Ancient houses, of which there are nine. This is due to the Potters being direct descendants of the Peverells. The last living relative of the Peverell married into the Potter family and took the name of Potter, thus ending the line of Peverell in name only but not in blood.”

Ragnok flipped quickly through the papers on his desk. “According to the files we have, Albus Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Head of the ICW, and Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot is your magical guardian. However, we have no information as to why he has not begun your introduction to your duties as heir of a Noble and Most Ancient House. He has never contacted you regarding this or anything else?”

Harry shook his head. “No, I have never even heard the name before.”

Ragnok stared at the young heir for a moment before uttering, “I see”. The goblin’s every little emotion was expressed in those two words. But Harry knew that the goblin was upset by his magical guardian’s inaction, why he did not know.

It was as if Ragnok could read his mind. The goblin sneered before speaking again. “It is against Wizarding Law not to inform heirs and potential Lords of their inheritances. Many would call it attempted line theft, especially since Albus Dumbledore has been using your Wizengamot seats for the last ten years to vote on the laws and bills that govern Wizarding society. For him to not have contacted you at all, including checking in on you, is illegal. I, for one, would like to know why you have never met the man. But that will come next; first, we will begin an audit of your accounts and what bills and laws that Dumbledore has voted on and let you know what the results are. For now, though, I will instruct you with your current holdings so that you may know what you have inherited.”

Harry had a confused expression upon his face when the goblin finished speaking. “I thought had just inherited my trust vault. That was the way Hagrid had made it seem.” Harry jumped when the goblin let out a choking laugh.

Ragnok’s eyes glittered, “Oh Heir Potter, you have inherited much more than that measly trust vault. Much, much more.”

\--*--**--*--

Harry still couldn’t believe it, he looked at the list that Ragnok had given him again, the inheritance that he had received from his parents was bloody insane.

Mother: Lily Josephina Potter nee Evans

Bloodlines: Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Fawley, Evans

Father: James Henry Potter

Bloodlines: Potter, Peverell, Black (Heir via blood adoption by Godfather, Sirius Orion Black), Selwyn, Shafiq, Gryffindor.

Harry’s Material Inheritance:

Properties, Monies, and Other Items-Wiltshire (also known as Potter Manor), Godric’s Hallow

Lord of House Fawley- 800,588,980 Galleons, 0 books, 1 property (Wiltshire) Fawley Manor, 8,784 other items in vaults.

Lord of House Gryffindor- 1,000,158 Galleons, 1,129 books, 1 properties (2 bedroom flat in Hogsmeade), ¼ Hogwarts, and 189 other items.

Lord of House Peverell- 987,588,115 Galleons, 10,789 books, 1 property Peverell Manor (Wiltshire), and 21,784 other items.

Lord of House Potter- 571,479,011 Galleons, 9,451 books, 2 Properties Godrics Hallow and London flat, and 4,724 other items.

Lord of House Ravenclaw- 874,125 Galleons, 2,187,789 books, 1 property ¼ Hogwarts, 487 other items.

Lord of House Selwyn- 1,156,881,358 Galleons, 5,471 books, 2 properties Selwyn Manor (Wiltshire and Hogsmeade flat), and 9,872 other items.

Lord of House Shafiq- 125,198,982 Galleons, 0 books, 0 properties, and 0 other items.

Unconfirmed Lord of House Slytherin- 120,005,725 Galleons, is the only living, blood relation of Slytherin, should anyone else come forward, will be named Heir until the other relation dies.

Heir of House Black- Heir Inheritance as Sirius’s godson: 202,047,456 Galleons, 108 books, 1 property London flat, and all Sirius Black’s personal items totaling: 457 items.

\--*--*--*--*--

Harry tried to wrap his mind around everything he had learned today. Finally, he shoved it aside and chose to think of it at a later date. He thought about his trunk and the books he wanted and set off with renewed excitement for what he may find. One thing that struck his mind was a person’s name, Sirius Black. Who was he? Why was he blood adopted by him? Why would this man leave Harry his possessions? Harry had so many more questions now but Ragnok had other business to attend to and set Harry up with a secure letter box so he and Ragnok could communicate when needed, especially when he had questions but Harry needed time to think the questions up before he spoke with Ragnok again, so he continued with his planned day.

Ragnok had mentioned Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment, saying it was the best place to find a wizarding trunk.

He made his way there and Harry spent an hour with one of the workers to locate a trunk that would allow him to take the large number of extra books with him that he had bought from Flourish and Blotts.

He grabbed quills, ink, and parchment from one of stores before heading to Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment.

With the help of the worker, Harry located an expensive trunk that was password and key protected. The trunk had a total of four compartments.

To access the different compartments all he had to do was tap his wand to the lock and say his password, this would open the first compartment. To open the second compartment, he just had to insert the key and turn it to the right one time. To access the third compartment, he just had to turn the key to the right twice. To access the fourth compartment, he just needed to turn the key three times. He simply had to turn the key to the left one time to lock the second, third, and fourth compartments. To lock the first compartment, he just had to close the trunk lid. He was also able to shrink the trunk by touching the gold stamp on the top of the trunk with a finger. They made sure that it only responded to the touch of any one of his fingers and no one elses. It was a great piece of magic, the trunk was extremely heavy by itself, let alone how heavy it would be when he put clothes, books, school supplies, and other school equipment into it.

The first compartment was the main compartment, which stored all of his clothes and plus room for random items. No matter what he put into this compartment, it would shrink and fold so he would have room for more. He just had to tell the trunk what he wanted and would be able to access it instantly. So, if he wanted a blue t-shirt all he had to say was blue t-shirt. The second compartment was for school supplies and other equipment. The third compartment held all his books and could hold over two-hundred books.

The fourth compartment was for a broomstick and quidditch equipment. Though he couldn’t figure out why he had gotten a school trunk that had room for Quidditch equipment when he had no bloody idea as to what quidditch was. The worker at the store had just said that it was something that most young male students ask for as they often try out for quidditch starting second year when they are allowed to have a broom. This way they did not have to get a new trunk either. He wanted to grab several books regarding the sport and planned on stopping at Quality Quidditch Supplies to find out more information regarding the sport. He was hoping to look around while he was there.

\--*--*--*--*--

_Quidditch…was…amazing,_ Harry thought to himself. He found several books on Quidditch just upon entering the store, including Quidditch Through the Ages and All About Quidditch: Everything You Didn’t Know. He flipped through both books to get an idea of the sport and found out that he loved the idea of it. He walked through the store looking at equipment, brooms, and other knickknacks until he came upon a toy boxset that showcased a quidditch match between England and Ireland. He stood entranced for several minutes, just watching the sport. He couldn’t believe how awesome it was.

Harry’s fingers itched to buy the boxset, he had plenty of money and the toy only cost 15 Galleons. He wanted to spend hours looking at it and watching the game, but he knew if he did that Dudley would break it or Petunia or Vernon would take it and give it to Dudley just out of spite.

Harry sighed and turned toward the counter to pay for the books he had picked up about quidditch. His next stop was Flourish and Blotts. Then he would hit one of the restaurants to sit down for lunch while he thought of his next step.

\--*--**--*--

Harry thought of all the issues he faced and will face if he stayed at the Dursleys.

He had already realized that many times he had done accidental magic he had been punished by Vernon or petunia he didn’t want to live that life. 

_It isn’t fair,_ he thought. _They hurt me but get away with it every time. I can’t take any more of it._ He had thought in the past if he had told an adult or a teacher that they would take him away and he wouldn’t be hurt anymore but they either didn’t believe him and called him a liar or tried to help him but failed. The teachers and other adults who tried and failed were often replaced with ones who didn’t believe him and would call him a liar. He hated it and hated them. Harry thought back on when Hagrid told him that the Leaky Cauldron also doubled as an inn. He could stay there until school began and take a taxi to Kings Cross station to take the train. He doubted that his aunt, uncle and cousin would miss him or even come looking for him. There was nothing left for him at Privet drive. With that in mind, he headed to the Leaky Cauldron to get a room and stow his trunk.

\--*--**--*--

As he headed towards the inn, Harry noticed witches, wizards, and children wearing what he thought to be cloaks and wondered if they were the equivalent of muggle coats. He decided to detour to Madam Malkins to pick up his school robes, hat, gloves, and winter cloak so he wouldn’t have to wait till the day before leaving for school to have them delivered. He hoped they had variations like the muggle coats did. Light weight for spring and fall weather and heavy weight for winter weather and if they could be water resistant in case of rain and snow.

Luckily, Madam Malkin had just what he had wanted and was able to pay quickly and pick up his other clothes at the same time.

Exiting he turned towards the inn and came upon Tom, the bartender and owner of the Leaky Cauldron, clearing dishes from the lunch rush.

“Hello, Mr. Potter.”

“Um…hello, Mr. Tom” Harry said smiling shyly.

The raven-haired youth jumped when Tom let out a loud chuckle. “By Merlin, Mr. Potter, just call me Tom.”

“Only if you call me Harry.”

The old bartender grinned and asked what he could do for him.

Harry asked how much a room and three meals a day would be for the next four days.

“Ah, you be needing a place to stay until school begins do ye? That’s no problem, we get a few every year. In fact, I’m expecting a couple of students around dinner tonight. It will be 62 galleons.

Harry pulled the pouch Ragnok had given him out of his pocket and asked for 100 galleons. Harry had mentioned to the goblin that he may not always be able to make it to Gringotts when he needed money. A lot of it though was that he didn’t want the Dursleys to know he had access to such a large amount. They could try to take it from him.

The pouch, itself, had antitheft charms on it and would draw money from whatever account he needed it to come from. He just had to think of the account and the amount needed and it would appear at the bottom of the pouch. Though Ragnok did say that he wouldn’t be able to withdraw more than a thousand galleons at a time and no more than five thousand in a day. Anything higher, he would have to go into a Gringotts branch to withdraw. Harry really liked the antitheft charms as that once someone who wasn’t Harry, Ragnok made it so only his magical signature could withdraw money from the pouch, put their hand into the pouch, the hand would become stuck. Then the pouch would release a spell to hold the thief immobile and alert the aurors and a member of Gringotts would be dispatched to deal with the thief.

Tom raised an eyebrow at the amount Harry handed him.

“It’s to ensure my privacy. No offense but I don’t know you or anyone in this world, I have only met Hagrid. I just want a quiet place to study my school books for a few days and place to stay until school starts.”

Tom nodded his head, he understood where young Harry was coming from and promised to ensure his privacy whenever he stayed with them. He would also make sure the staff kept quiet about the young boy-who-lived was staying there.

\--*--**--*--

The last few days had been great. He had an actual bed to sleep on and three meals a day. It was heaven to the young heir. After all he had gone through at the Dursleys, his time at the Leaky Cauldron helped him to find some confidence and gain a little bit of weight, though the last bit was due to Tom’s very concerned wife. She had noticed that he was very small for his age and his weight was nowhere near what it should have been. At every meal she had included a nutrition potion and said when he got to Hogwarts he was to speak with Madam Pomphrey, the onsite Mediwitch and Professor Snape, who was the youngest Potions Master in the Country.

Harry had to receive help to get on the train to Hogwarts. Or more accurately the platform 9 ¾ because Hagrid hadn’t told him how to get onto the bloody platform. A group of redheads and their mother helped him out and he was able to make his way onto the train.

He found an empty compartment and stowed his trunk and sat down with a book that he had picked up in Diagon Alley before heading to get his wand. That Ollivander fellow had been excruciatingly weird. He had kept alluding to many things but most specifically how Harry had things in common with the Dark Lord who had killed his parents. Harry thought back on Ollivander’s words. He could hear them over and over again repeating in his mind. “It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when it’s brother gave you that scar. I shall expect you to do great things Mr. Potter for he who must not be named did great things evil things but great.” As they had been walking through Diagon Alley, Harry had questioned Hagrid on what had happened to his parents. All he had gotten was a name, Voldemort, and a few words on how evil the man had been. Harry was shaken from his thoughts when a voice filled the compartment.

“Um, excuse me, can I sit in here? Everywhere else is full” said one of the redheads from the plaform.

Harry thought it over for a moment but told the redhead to come on in. He didn’t know anyone going to Hogwarts, maybe he could have a friend.

Harry knew himself to be a shy person and had felt that at first that was why he was hesitant to have Ron in the compartment. But hour after hour showed him that it wasn’t him, wasn’t his shyness; it was the other boy’s personality that was causing Harry’s reluctance to socialize with him. _Bloody hell the redheaded boy, Ron,_ _he should really call the boy by his actual name, was rude and obnoxious, even more so than that blonde boy he had met in the seamstress’s shop,_ Harry thought to himself.

Harry had bought himself some items off the trolley cart and offered a few up to who he had hoped would become his first friend in the Wizarding World. How wrong he was. The boy was a pig, taking more than Harry had offered and then jealousy hit the redhead smack in the face when he had realized who Harry was.

Harry had known that he was famous in the Wizarding World by the tale he had heard from Hagrid and by how those who had learned his name spoke and greeted him. Even with how Ollivander treated him. But he could see the jealousy and envy in the blue-eyed redhead sitting on the seat before him, munching away at the treats from the trolley. It made the smaller raven-haired boy very uncomfortable.

He thought about trying to escape from the compartment and just hole up in the bathroom until they arrived, but the boy would figure it out when Harry took his trunk with him. So, Harry just sat there and listened to the boy rattle on about one thing or another.

About five hours into the trip Harry told the other boy he was going to read for a while. The look of disgust that appeared on the boy’s face was enough for Harry to assume that the boy did not like reading at all or learning it would seem. _How would the boy do in classes in a boarding school?_ he wondered, he mentally shrugged and started reading his book.

\--*--**--*--

Harry was jolted out of his book when a girl opened the compartment door.

“Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville’s lost one,” she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

The two boys shook their heads no but the girl was no longer watching them; instead she was looking at the wand in Ron’s hand.

“Oh, are you doing magic? Let’s see it, then.”

She sat down. Ron looked taken aback. “Er — all right.” He cleared his throat.

_ “Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow.” _

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.

“Are you sure that’s a real spell?” said the girl. “Well, it’s not very good, is it? I’ve tried a few simple spells just for practice and it’s all worked for me.”

“For example,” she said pointing her wand in Harry’s face, “oculus reparo. There that’s better isn’t it?”

Harry pulled his glasses off and was wowed at them being fixed. Though he was very upset with the girl at having pointed her wand in his face and doing a spell without asking him first. After all, wands were weapons. He had read about it in one of the extra books he had picked up from Flourish and Blotts, essentially at the age of eleven, students were given a weapon they could use against other people.

“Holy, cricket, your Harry Potter, I’m Hermione Granger. And you are?” she asked snootily turning to Ron. 

Ron didn’t even attempt to swallow the food in his mouth before saying, “Um, Ronald Weasley” he stated proudly. 

The bushy-haired girl raised an eyebrow at the red-head. “Charmed. You two had better change into your robes, I expect we’ll be arriving soon.” With that the girl turned to leave but whipped back around and looked at Ron. “You have dirt on your nose, did you know?” pointing at the side of her nose, “just there”. 

The young red-head tried to wipe the dirt off but wasn’t able to get it all. Harry sighed aloud and got up to change in his school robes, the other boy followed and were ready just as they were pulling into the station.

After the train pulled up into the station at Hogsmeade, Harry could hear Hagrid calling for all the first years and had them follow him to the bogs, where boats waited to take them to the castle.

When Harry first spotted the castle, he had a sense of home, of a rightness that he had never felt with living at the Dursleys. He could feel the castle’s magic reach out to him and settle over him. Ragnok had said that it would happen as he was an heir of three of the founds and when he came of age would be the lord of several houses, including Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw.

He was home.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Though a bit AU in the first two chapters, this story really becomes AU starting in Chapter 3.

Hagrid handed the new first years over to Professor McGonagall. He made his escape and headed into the great hall to await their arrival and sorting.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

“Welcome to Hogwarts, my name is Professor McGonagall” said the professor. “The start-of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room.”

“The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup.”

“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school.” With that said the professor left them alone and Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.

“I shall return shortly to escort you into the great hall for the sorting ceremony.” With that said, the professor turned and went into the great hall shutting the chamber door behind her.

One of the other first years asked what kind of sorting ceremony what happen. Harry heard Ron’s response, but he tuned it out. He was very nervous, he didn’t know what house would be best for him, but he hoped that the sorting went quickly. He feared the attention that he would get when he entered the room but tried to relax himself and focus on something else, anything else.

By the time he had calmed himself, he heard another voice speak. “I heard Harry Potter was to join us this year, but I haven’t seen him yet. Has anyone else?”

Harry started to feel anxious again when he heard his name repeated with awe or disgust and tried to ignore everyone around him.

Harry elbowed Ron and shook his head when the other boy went to speak.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because I don’t want to be mobbed or have people rushing over to greet me. I don’t like the attention my name gets.” The red-head wrinkled his nose at that thought, as if Harry should want the attention and was stupid if he didn’t seek it.

Harry rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the door, straightening up when it opened. “Follow me please” said Professor McGonagall. With that, she led the newest first years out of the chamber and into the great hall. As they walked, Harry heard, that girl, Hermione speak about the ceiling and how it was bewitched to look like the night sky. He could hear her brag that she had read all about it in Hogwarts: A History.

Four tables of students turned to look at them as they walked in a straight line into the great hall. It was time, the sorting would begin in a moment and Harry was terrified.

They stopped before a stool with a hat sitting atop of it. Harry assumed that this was part of the test but wasn’t sure how a stool or a mangy old hat would be a test. The hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn’t have let it in the house. _Maybe they had to try and get a_ _rabbit out of it,_ Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing — noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:

“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty, but don’t judge on what you see,

I’ll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black, your top hats sleek and tall,

For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat and I can cap them all.

There’s nothing hidden in your head the Sorting Hat can’t see,

So, try me on and I will tell you where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff, where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if you’ve a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning, will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin you’ll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means to achieve their ends.

So, put me on! Don’t be afraid! And don’t get in a flap!

You’re in safe hands (though I have none), for I’m a Thinking Cap!”

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

Ron slapped a palm to his face, much to the merriment of the other first years and talked about how his brother said he had to wrestle a troll.

Harry watched one by one first years were brought up to the sorting hat and sorted into a house. Harry jolted when he heard his name called and walked down to the stool. He saw the blonde boy from Madam Malkins stiffen as Harry’s name was called. He knew then the boy had recognized him from the seamstresses.

Harry sat himself on the stool and waited as Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head. “Hello, Mr. Potter” said the Sorting Hat. “My, my, you are a tricky one, aren’t you? You have courage and aren’t afraid to stand up when your needed. Your mind seeks knowledge and have a willingness to learn. Your loyal to those you care for, but they are few and far between. You have plenty of talent, and have a thirst to prove yourself. You are cunning and know when to wait to strike. But where to put you? Slytherin would help you on the way to greatness, you could rival the dark lord in either Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw would nurture your mind and willingness to learn. Hufflepuff would teach you patience and how to open your heart; whereas Gryffindor would encourage your recklessness and bravery to always stand when needed. You are equally suited to all four houses Mr. Potter. Do you have a preference?”

Harry thought about it and said “no, what do we do now?”

“Now, we do this Mr. Potter, GRYFFINDOR!” The hall began to clap, the Gryffindors were shouting and cheering. Harry could hear some of them shouting, “we got Potter!” It all stopped when the Sorting Hat spoke three more times.

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“and SLYTHERIN!”

The entire hall became scarily silent. No one spoke a word, Harry turned to the head table to ask what was happening when an elderly wizard with graying hair and a long gray beard, and bright blue robes on spoke. “Mr. Potter, please join me and the other Heads of House so we may speak with the Sorting Hat. Prefects, please see that the remaining unsorted students are seated somewhere to eat, we will finish the sorting once we return. And last but not least, LET THE FEAST BEGIN!”

\--*--**--*--

Harry followed the four professors and who he assumed to be Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts from the great hall. They made their way through a long hallway and came upon a gargoyle statue. The man he assumed to be the headmaster spoke aloud and said, “Lemon drops”. Harry watched the gargoyle open to a passage with winding stairs. The elderly wizard motioned the rest of them to follow him and stood on the stairs not going any further. Just as Harry was to ask why they weren’t climbing the steps, the steps began to move. Once they reached the top, the headmaster ushered everyone into a large room.

It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk with five chairs in front of it. Two of the chairs were lower to the ground than the rest. Harry assumed one was for him and one for Professor Flitwick, who had introduced himself as the Head of Ravenclaw House and charms professor as they made their way to the chairs.

Professor McGonagall produced the sorting hat, setting it gently upon the headmaster’s desk. Harry watched in awe and wonder as the hat yawned and spoke. “We will finish the sorting once done here I presume?”

The headmaster nodded, speaking to the head “Please explain yourself.”

The hat, after receiving a nod from Harry, gave the same explanation he had to the Boy-Who-Lived, minus a few details. “The boy is equally suited to all four houses” it said finishing.

The four professors began to talk over each other, each trying to determine as to what to do next.

The large nosed, dark-haired man in severe black robes suddenly yelled out. “Silence!” This caused the others to immediately quiet down. “Perhaps,” he said smoothly, “we should introduce ourselves to the young Mr. Potter.”

Harry noticed that the professor who had just spoke, sneered his last name and wondered what he done to the man. Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Sprout, and Professor Snape immediately introduced themselves; while Professors McGonagall and Flitwick recused themselves as they had both already introduced themselves to the young Potter boy.

Once introductions were out of the way, Dumbledore spoke. “Unfortunately, the school charter has nothing helpful for this situation. This is the first time in this school’s history that a student has been sorted into more than one house. So, Mr. Potter, you will have to choose a house.”

Harry could see the headmaster’s blue-eyes twinkling madly at him. He felt as if the headmaster was trying to manipulate him as the man caught his eyes and tried to hold his gaze. He felt something brush his mind and realized the old man was trying to use legilimency on him to read his mind. Harry had read all about the mind art in one of the books he had picked up from Flourish and Blotts and had even been able to construct a shield that was currently holding the older wizard at bay. But he knew that Dumbledore could force his way through; it took time to build a shield that would be a fortress and keep the headmaster out. He also knew that if Dumbledore forced his way through that everyone in the room would know as Harry would scream out in agony and his nose would begin bleeding.

The Potter heir believe there would be resentment no matter which house he chose. He opened his mouth to leave the choice up to the heads of house when the sorting hat spoke up once more.

“Didn’t you hear me headmaster? There is no choosing, my choice is final and is binding. There are no changes to be made. Harry Potter is a Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. He is a student of all four houses of Hogwarts.”

The hat fell silent once more as the Head of Gryffindor House began to speak. “The house point system won’t work in this situation” stated the ever-practical Professor McGonagall. “We will have to use a different approach for bad and good behaviors. Rewards for good behavior should be by each professors’ standards, such as giving Mr. Potter and extra day to turn in homework where another student may have received fifty house points, or a chocolate frog if he has earned five points. As for punishments, I believe writing lines and detentions would be the best way to go. Five lines where would take five points or ten lines for ten points.”

The other heads nodded when McGonagall finished. Her idea made sense, but Harry could see by the tightening of the headmaster’s lips he wasn’t pleased.

By this and he had to wonder why. Ragnok had said he was supposed to have been his magical guardian. But Harry had never seen the headmaster before coming to Hogwarts.

Harry felt as the headmaster was trying to manipulate the situation in any way he could. It was clear to the eleven-year-old that he would have to stay far away from the seemingly grandfatherly looking old man and his twinkling blue eyes least he be burned.

\--*--**--*--

Harry found his room to be very.…big. He wasn’t used to this amount of space, he had grown up in the cupboard under the stairs. The castle had taken it upon herself to create him a bedroom that had access to all four house’s common rooms. He just had to think of what common room he wanted and was able to open the door and walk out. The most exciting bit he was told, by the head house elf Dotti, was that nobody but him, his heads of house, and the headmaster could enter his room without his permission. He could also gain access to his room by going through any of the common rooms. A door had shown up in each common room that represented Harry’s bedroom door. Dotti explained to Harry that he could hear the knocking on his door no matter which common room he was in. The house crest of the student knocking will appear on his side of the door along with the name of the student, or if it was a professor, the Hogwarts crest will appear along the with professor’s name.

“What yous be thinking of yous room young master?” asked the head house elf.

“It’s brilliant” Harry said, grinning happily in response. The house elf was delighted with his answer and grinned back at the young boy and quickly let him know that he was all set. Dotti scurried off to the kitchen, telling the other houseelves what a kind, young master Harry Potter was.

After she left, Harry began to think about his classes. Classes were to begin in two days, but Harry wanted to study the route he was to take for his classes. With him being in multiple houses, Harry had a very.…interesting….schedule to say the least. The heads of house and the headmaster generated his schedule at the end of the meeting before everyone was dismissed back to the great hall.

He had Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions with the Gryffindors and Slytherins. He had Transfiguration and Charms with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. History of Magic with the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, Astronomy with the Ravenclaws and Slytherins, with Herbology with the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. All first years had flying lessons at the same time. With all of that, he wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be any issues, with that in mind, he grabbed his Hogwarts map and timetable and set off looking for his classes.

\--*--**--*--

Harry first class was potions with Professor Snape and the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins. He wrote what the professor said word for word, the introduction speech imprinting on his brain. In his feverish writing, he attracted the attention of the professor, who then turned his attention to Harry.

Harry froze until the professor spoke. When he did, Harry was infinitely grateful that he had read ahead. Though one part bothered him. They wouldn’t be studying the first question until they studied for their NEWTS. The only reason he knew the answer was because he had looked up the potion to find out what it did.

“Tell me, Mr. Potter, what will I get if I add Powdered Root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?”

Harry gulped and then said, “they make a sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death sir.”

Professor Snape hummed silently for a moment and then asked, “where would you look if I tell you to find me a Bezoar?” 

“Sir, a Bezoar is a stone, taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons.”

“What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?”

“They are the same plant they also go by the name of Aconite…sir.”

“Very good Mr. Potter, you seem to have studied ahead. That will serve you well in my class, please remain behind after class to receive your reward.”

Professor Snape looked to the other students in the class. “Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?”

“Mr. Potter, please remain behind after class to receive your reward.” It would seem the youngest Potter had more brains than the Potions professor ever attributed to the boy’s father.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still First year, Albus Dumbledore is upset his manipulations aren’t working on the boy who lived
> 
> ***Also, I will post more as soon as it is available, Chapter 5 is giving me major issues and had to go back and revamp this chapter to make sure things fit together properly, sorry it took so long, should have another batch to post soon.  
> Updated 6/11/18: Previous chapter was not updated, this just gave a little more to the curiousness of Harry regarding Sirius when talking to Draco, and a little bit of grammar editing.

After having returned to the Great Hall Albus Dumbledore had given his speech, specifically prepared to entice students to the third floor. But so far, weeks into the term, the one student who could pass through the wards hadn’t taken the hint and gone near the third floor with the beast. He was angry that his manipulations were already failing. The compulsions he had laid upon the boy seemed to have failed. In his fury, his magic lashed out, causing damage to his previously ordered office.

The previous headmasters upon the walls just sat in silence, spelled from saying anything to the angry man. The only one able to say anything wasn’t currently in his frame, currently visiting with relations located at the Black family ancestral home as well as Grimmauld Place, Dumbledore had so far been unable to break the wards and spells upon Phineas Nigellus Black’s frame to control him as he did the others. The other portraits would be sure to tell him when he returned, that the current Headmaster was openly losing his mind.

They had known that Albus Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was manipulative but the things they had heard in the last few weeks alone made it clear to the previous headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts that the interfering old man should never have been made headmaster or in charge of students.

Headmaster Armando Dippet constantly tried to kick himself for letting himself be caught unawares by Dumbledore. He let himself be reined in by the ‘greater good’ spiel that the current fashion disaster of a headmaster spewed. Not realizing that the old man was worse than Voldemort, or Grindelwald, could ever be. Now though, now he knew, and that knowledge, that this man that he had once thought to be a great and light wizard, was nothing more than a manipulative bastard who had ensured the rise of a second Dark Lord for his own gain, made him sick.

\--*--**--*--

Harry decided he wanted to spend time in each of the house common rooms to get to know the other students and thought to start after dinner. He wanted friends. Sometimes he felt very alone, especially now with being sorted into all four houses. He had heard of the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin and it was legendary. Both houses detested each other and would find some way to fight each other. The first years flying first lesson was testament to that. He was proud that the broom came to his hand immediately after being called, Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Mandy Brocklehurst, Michael Corner, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abbott’s had also come as soon as called. But then Neville got onto his broom and somehow took off and then fell off breaking his arm. Draco Malfoy had taunted the first year Gryffindors with Neville Longbottom’s Remembrall, it was a weird clear ball that filled with red smoke. He took the Remembrall back from Draco and admonished him for taking it to begin with. None of them got into the air and waited patiently for Madam Hooch to return. Though the Slytherins did do an awful lot of sneering at the other students.

Harry was a little worried though. A few of the Slytherins had stopped sneering and kept looking at him. He couldn’t tell what the look was for, but it was a little disconcerting and made him really conscientious of what he was doing.  

Harry walked towards the Great Hall for dinner. Flying lessons, after Neville’s accident, had gone well. Madam Hooch called him a natural on a broom. She kept going on and on about how he was probably the youngest natural seeker she had ever seen. Those brooms though, were a menace. A few had had issues like Neville. Harry had heard one of the Slytherins mention that the brooms were old, and the charms were starting to deteriorate. Apparently, brooms had to have special charms cast on them to keep them in good repair but for some reason the school brooms had not had these charms placed in sometime. From what he could tell, by Madam Hooch’s grumbling, it wasn’t because of her. Every time a student was hurt or jostled on the broom because of the brooms temperament, Madam Hooch would start cursing Dumbledore. Harry assumed he wouldn’t allow the care needed but couldn’t figure out why. Though Harry had a sneaking suspicion that it was because the brooms could be more easily tampered with. But why, he had no clue. It was interesting and something that concerned him.

Harry was shaken from his thoughts when he heard his name called. _Oh no_ , he thought. _Here comes Weasley._ He just couldn’t shake the redhead boy. He was everywhere Harry went. Harry was glad he didn’t have to share a dorm with the other boy, he might hex him multiple times before they even finished their first year.

“Yes, Ronald?” Harry asked the other boy.

The other boy grinned. “Harry, mate, call me Ron, we’re going to be best friends after all, I thought maybe you would like to join me for a game of exploding snap or chess after dinner.”

Harry sighed, he had planned to start in the Gryffindor common room since it was the house his parents were in while in school but now he wasn’t sure. He didn’t want Ronald to monopolize his time which he was sure would happen if he were to go to the Gryffindor common room.

“You haven’t spent any time in our house common room. What you think Gryffindor isn’t good enough for you? I bet you think the other houses are better don’t you? You do realize only dark lords and dark wizards come out of the other houses. Only Gryffindor house has light wizards. If you don’t spend your time there then that makes you a dark wizard.”

Harry just shook his head and turned and walked away from the other boy. He wasn’t going to sit there and listen to the boy spew that same light wizard shite that he had been on the train. Harry just kept walking. Suddenly he heard pounding steps and was spun around by a hard grip on his arm, jerking him around.

Ronald Weasley’s face was bright red with anger. “Oiy! Don’t walk away when I’m talking to you” the other boy spat, spittle flying from his mouth towards Harry. Harry reached up and wiped the spittle from his face, disgusted with the other boy in more than one way.

“You have to spend time in Gryffindor” the other boy spat out. “Otherwise you will be marked as a dark wizard and dark wizards are evil. You don’t want to be marked as a dark, evil wizard, do you?”

Harry stood there thinking. “Ronald Weasley,” he started to say. “I do not now, nor will I ever believe that only light wizards come from Gryffindor while all dark wizards come from the other three houses. That is idiotic thinking and your mad if you believe it. I also do not believe that dark means evil. I picked up a few books on light, grey, and dark magic before school started and I have to say that many people mix dark and evil. There are not the same. A person’s core of magic can be light, and they can be as evil as Hitler was in the muggle world. A person can have a magic core that is dark but be as good as Mother Teresa. The books told me that magic is all about intent, about how you use it. That is what defines you as good and evil, not the way your core leans. Light cores just mean that you are better suited to light spells and dark with dark spells. Grey is a cross between both, it just means you are suited to both light and dark spells. Dark does not mean evil and you should remember that.”

With that said, Harry shook his arm free and spun around, leaving a gapping redhead behind, only to hear and see students clapping all around him, some professors as well. Harry blushed and ducked his head and walked towards the great hall for dinner. Harry found and empty area of the Slytherin table and sat there. He hadn’t yet taken advantage of the fact he could sit wherever he had chosen. He normally sat at the Gryffindor table, as far away from Ronald Weasley as possible and ate his food.

Several students came up to him during the meal and asked him about the books he mentioned and thanked him for telling him the difference. He gave them the titles and names of the authors. He hoped that it would spread the information around. Harry was firm in his belief that dark did not mean evil. Magic was about intent, the way a person’s magical core leant did not have any bearing on the type of person one was.

Harry finished his dinner and left the great hall. Ronald kept glaring at him from his place between his twin brothers. Apparently, the two had been filled in on the confrontation in the hallway and kept their younger brother between them. Others who had witnessed the event had told Harry that the two were the most Slytherin Gryffindor’s they had ever met and that they had told Ronald to sit and stay there till after the meal and to not go near Harry again that night.

“Oiy, Potter!” A voice called out. Harry turned to face the person. It was Draco Malfoy along with Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe. He didn’t sense any anger from them and their bodies were calm not tensing up for a confrontation that would end in harm. Harry felt that with his background with the Dursley’s it would make him more sensitive to impending harm and didn’t think these boys were out to hurt him.

“Yes, Malfoy.”

“Did you mean what you said? About light, grey, and dark wizards?”

Harry nodded his head. The other boys all smiled and thanked Harry. Draco stepped up to him and did something that caused the other four boys to gasp aloud. He held his hand out to Harry. Thanks to the etiquette books that Harry had gotten from Flourish and Blotts on pureblood manners, he knew this was a big deal. Draco was extending his hand in friendship and alliance to him without any strings attached, without any words.

Harry looked at the other boy’s hand and reached out and shook it with trembling fingers. Harry had made his first real and true friend. And it would be a friendship that would stand the test of time and wars. Soon after the other four boys offered their own hands and each boy ignored the watery look within the eyes of the boy-who-lived.

\--*--**--*--

Neville Longbottom was a quiet boy. Very introverted and was uncomfortable around people most of the time. His dormmates were the opposite of himself. Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas were outgoing and very much into having fun. Ronald Weasley was….angry, hot tempered, and was always, always eating. He was also loud. Very different from Neville himself. Though recently, Seamus and Dean had taken it up themselves to get to know the quietest Gryffindor and had slowly become his friends. They knew his fear of possibly having been put into Gryffindor by mistake, Neville’s uncle Algie had constantly told the boy, after they had verified he had magic, that he was probably a shoe in for Hufflepuff. They also knew that Neville had been hung out a window by his uncle and was dropped when his aunt Enid, Algie’s wife, had offered him meringue. Neville ended up bouncing safely into the garden. The poor boy had been terrified. Apparently, Algie had done it to force Neville into using accidental magic. He thought for sure the boy was a squib until he bounced. Neville kept saying it was okay, as his grandmother had cried so very hard with joy that he was a wizard. But Neville’s personality made them all believe the boy was suited for Hufflepuff.

Seamus huffed when he thought about it. His mother and father would never have allowed that done to him, Dean agreed, his parents wouldn’t have allowed it either. What they had done was wrong, so Seamus and Dean had gone to Professor McGonagall, concerned about the other boy’s home life. After shooing them from her office she went right through her floo to Longbottom Manor and had it out with Augusta Longbottom. Apparently from the retelling from Neville’s grandmother, McGonagall had flayed the older woman alive and made her understand the way she had been treating her grandson was horrible and would not be allowed to continue. Augusta Longbottom was embarrassed and angry with herself when she realized how far it had all gone. She never thought that what they had been doing was child abuse, but it was and when she realized it, she broke down. McGonagall had also gotten her to understand that Frank Longbottom’s wand did not work for Neville as Frank’s wand had an aptitude for transfiguration and charms work but Neville was suited for Herbology. He was the best in the class of his year and had a way with the plants that only Pomona Sprout herself had. It also made him a good candidate for a healer.

Minerva McGonagall escorted Madam Longbottom back to Hogwarts so she would be able to take Neville and replace his rather ill-fitting wand.

Harry had also noticed how quiet the Gryffindor was and decided that he would be the next to befriend him.

Neville was walking alone when Harry caught up to him after charms class ended. They struck up a conversation and by the end, Harry held his hand out to Neville in a show of friendship that the other boy accepted, smiling at Harry as Seamus and Dean showed up to join Neville at lunch. Harry sat with the three at lunch talking with them about classes and their families. He was surprised to find he had so much in common with the three Gryffindors. He was equally surprised to see he had befriended the other two as well.

\--*--**--*--

Harry noticed that some of the other first years were struggling with the DADA curriculum due to many having issues with Professor Quirrell’s teaching methods. He wasn’t a bad professor, just hard to learn from. So, Harry approached Terry Boot, Mandy Brocklehurst, Anthony Goldstein, and Michael Corner in Ravenclaw and asked them if they would be willing, along with himself, to hold a study group for those in their year. Harry also asked Draco, Blaise, Theo, Greg, Vince, Neville, Seamus, and Dean if they wanted to join and help out if needed for other first years who were struggling. They all agreed and said they would talk to other house first years as well as their own to see if they would like to join. Neville said he grew up with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott and would ask if they and other first years in their house would like to join. When Neville, rejoined Harry, he told them that Hannah and Susan were looking forward to the study group and would spread the word.

The first study group met in the library but had to quickly adjourn to the great hall as more first years arrived. Many had been shifty when the Slytherins showed up, but Harry had gotten up to show them how welcome they were, the other first years followed suit. Harry looked around and grinned, the study group was a success.

\--*--**--*--

Harry had spent the first few weeks dodging Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, who wouldn’t leave him alone. Honestly, he felt as if the red-head was purposely stalking him. And now he had the bushy brunette after him as well. Every time he saw the red-head he would go on a light is good rant and dark is evil rant. It was really annoying Harry. He sighed heavily while reaching for his potions book to double check some facts for his one-foot paper on newt eyes and their main uses. Draco and Blaise had come along just as the other two had really started in on him. Apparently, it was a must that Harry was to save the world and beat back all dark and neutral magic users. He was supposed to be the light’s hero. A role and title he didn’t want and tried to explain when the two had gotten nasty about it just as Draco and Blaise had shown up to do homework with him, scaring the other two off.

“Ignore the Weasel, Harry; he and his family are blood traitors. And Granger is nothing but a gold-digging mud….” Draco trailed off when Harry glared at him. He had forgotten that Harry didn’t like that word considering his own mother had been a muggleborn. Then a calculating gleam entered the young Slytherin’s blue-eyes. “Much like Sirius Black.”

Harry looked up from his potions book confused. “Who is Sirius Black?” he asked the blond boy, curious since the name had come up at Gringotts. Blaise looked up at the raven-haired boy and shook his head at Draco. Greg and Vince were immersed in a game of exploding snap, not listening to the other boys. Blaise knew that the other boy was deliberately bringing up the man to scare Harry, to see if some of the rumors were true. Most especially that the boy-who-lived, wasn’t scared of anything. Blaise pointed a look at the other boy warning him off.

“Ask Professor Snape” replied the blonde, dropping the subject much to Harry’s frustration.

\--*--**--*--

For the most part, Severus Snape still held a hatred for the young boy-who-lived. But that hatred was slowly dwindling, in part because the boy was nothing like he had thought the boy would be. Also, in part because he had heard Harry’s speech about light and dark, and magical intent from the young boy. Harry was intelligent, thoughtful, and loyal to those he had befriended but Severus had also seen a light enter the young wizard’s eyes from time to time when he had thought no one looking. It wasn’t malicious, it wasn’t ill intent. It was the light of someone calculating their moves to match others and staying one step ahead. Severus had noticed Dumbledore staring more and more at the emerald green-eyed boy. Severus knew that Harry knew that something was wrong with the old man but what Severus didn’t know. The old fool had gotten even more insane with plots and plans that included the little brat but he couldn’t prove it. Severus shook himself free of his thoughts as footsteps approached his door. He waved a hand to engage the looking glass to tell him who was standing outside.

As the muggles would say, speak of the devil. Harry Potter stood outside his door looking as it was a pensive expression, as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted the answers he sought on the other side of the door.

After a moment, he seemed to have made up his mind and quickly rapped upon the heavy door. Severus had been waiting and quickly motioned the door to open and called for the boy to enter.

“Mr. Potter, what can I do for you? We do not have class for several hours.”

He saw the boy take a deep breath, as if bracing himself. “Who is Sirius Black?” Harry asked the motionless professor.

“Wha….? How did….? Where did you hear that name?” Severus snapped out.

“Draco Malfoy mentioned the name in passing, saying that he was blood traitor but not who he was and to ask you when I asked Draco who it was. I also heard the name at Gringotts before the term began.””

“Take a seat Mr. Potter, I will explain who Sirius Black was.”

When Professor Snape finished speaking, Harry spoke up. “But that doesn’t make any sense Professor. If he was as close to my parents as you say he was, why did he betray them? It doesn’t make any sense. He was their friend and he betrayed them, but it truly doesn’t make sense that he would do it nor was he given a trial, was it proven that he did it?”

“Witnesses heard Peter Pettigrew ask how Sirius could do that to his best friends, seconds later Sirius Black blew up the street, killing twelve muggles.”

Professor Snape dismissed him a moment later, Harry left with more questions than answers, making his way to his room.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Chapter!!! Yay!
> 
> Thank you all for trying to help me and a Special Shoutout to LePetitDetective for locating the story!!!! Thanks!
> 
> Here it is for those whose interest has been stirred into reading it: Saving Snakes  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/7169708
> 
> I'll definitely be posting new chapters on Sunday. Thanks all for your help!
> 
> 6/17/18: So as promised here is one of the newest chapters, I only have two for you at this time but I hope you all will like them!

 

Harry thought a lot about the conversation with Professor Snape on his way back to meet Draco, Blaise, Vince, and Greg in the Slytherin Common room. He knew by now that the latter two boys would have been shooed from the library for playing exploding snap in the library and all four would head to the common room after. As he neared the entrance to the common room he could hear yelling ahead and sped up his steps, one of the voices yelling was Draco, the other was Ronald Weasley.

Harry got there just as Weasley was demanding Draco to cutoff his friendship with the Boy-Who-Lived, making Harry roll his eyes in anger and frustration at the redhead.

“Weasley that is enough,” Harry shouts, “stop trying to force others to no longer be my friends.” This wasn’t the first time Harry had heard or heard of Weasley trying this, he had tried with Neville, Seamus, and Dean as well a few days back.

“But Harry, “the young ginger whined. “You’re the boy-who-lived, you can’t be friends with someone like him, he’s an evil Slytherin.”

Harry burst out laughing. “He’s eleven, Weasley, no eleven-year-old would choose to be evil. You’re off your rocker, just because he’s in Slytherin doesn’t make him evil. I don’t know what you’re doing down here as you don’t have classes right now; you’re not in Slytherin and I definitely know you’re not friends with a Slytherin, but you need to leave. All you’re doing is causing a scene. It needs to stop, please leave my friends and I alone, all of my friends.” With that Harry turned away from the redhead and walked to join Draco, Greg, Blaise, and Vince.

They started to head to the Slytherin common room when the other boy opened his mouth again.

“I challenge you Draco Malfoy to a Wizard’s duel at midnight tonight for Harry Potter’s friendship.” The words stretched out before him, he gulped when he realized what he had said but didn’t retract what he had said. Though his face turned the color that Harry had thought only his uncle Vernon could turn, dark purple as Draco and the other Slytherins laughed at the redhead. Harry didn’t see it as funny but there was still much about this world he didn’t know so he stayed quiet looking at Ronald then at Draco.

“You’re funny Weasley, that was a good one. I won’t be there….” Draco started to say before being interrupted by the redhead. “Why scared Malfoy?”

“You wish Weasley, I have no interest in being near you during the day nor do I have the interest in losing points for my house in case of being caught. Assuming you would even show up and not just challenging me and then telling your head of house or Filch to get me in trouble.” The way the other boy gulped showed that the last part had been exactly what the ginger haired boy had been thinking. The five boys simultaneously rolled their eyes and walked away from the Gryffindor boy and headed to the entrance to their house, quietly saying the password, so the eavesdropping redhead couldn’t hear and entered the common room to restart their homework.

\--*--**--*--

It was Halloween and Harry had chosen to sit with the first year Hufflepuffs as the other houses had gone out of their way to try to make him feel better, realizing that his parents had died on this day ten years before. While he was sure the badgers were aware of the fact as well, they weren’t trying to smother him like the other first years were and had chosen to sit next to Hannah and Susan.

Harry was just helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore’s chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, “Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know.” He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

There was an immediate uproar in the Great Hall and it took Professor Dumbledore several minutes to calm the students, and Professor Trelawney, down.

Harry could feel the castle answering to the threat of the troll and locked down the part of the dungeons with the troll in it, also closing the Great Hall doors. “Susy, didn’t you say your aunt was an auror?” Draco had explained aurors to Harry, who equated them with muggle police officers, if someone, or something, made its way into a muggle school, police were called, so Harry assumed that aurors should be called for this as well and it didn’t seem like Dumbledore was going to call them. “Is there a way for you to contact her in case of an emergency? I think the aurors should be here for this, the professors may need their help” he asked her when she nodded her head and said she was the head of the DMLE. Susan smacked her forehead with her right palm, wondering why she hadn’t thought of that. She looked around to see if anyone was watching her and slipped her right hand back into the sleeve to reach a special pocket her aunt made sure was in all of her clothes. Here, she kept a ring that once she put it on and pressed the yellow topaz at the top would send a message of danger with Susan’s coordinates to a bracelet that her aunt wears on her left wrist. Susan slipped it on and brought her hand out of the sleeve, pressing the top of the gem as she did so.

“It will take her a few minutes to get here, she will want to grab a few aurors. And since they can’t apparate into the school because of the wards, they have to make their way up from the gate.”

Harry and the other Hufflepuffs relaxed in their seats knowing that the aurors were now coming to help.

Dumbledore conversed with the other teachers during this time and then turned to face the students.

“Prefects,” he rumbled, “lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!”

Professor Snape snapped something at the headmaster the students couldn’t hear since the Slytherins, Harry, and the other first years he had befriended starting protesting, as the Slytherin dorms were down in the dungeons, it would put them right in the danger zone.

The commotion hid the opening of the Great Hall doors by the aurors. The five men wore dark red robes made of a thick material Harry had never seen before. The robes were long but had slits going up to the waists for better movement. Each wore black trousers and a white top. The sixth, a woman Harry assumed was Susan’s aunt, wore black robes made of the same material with the same type of black trousers and white top. All had grim expressions upon their faces though, the woman’s eased when she spotted Susan and the group scurried around the down professor to get to the young Hufflepuff.

Susan got up and embraced her aunt, quietly explaining to her aunt what had occurred, as well as the fact that Dumbledore had just tried to send all students to their common rooms which wasn’t an entirely bad idea except that the Slytherins were housed in the Dungeon, which would put them on the path of the troll. Susan sat down as her aunt went to the head table and one of her men went up with her as the others spread out throughout the hall, with one heading to check on the still unconscious Professor Quirrell. Shortly after Dumbledore cast a privacy ward, no one in the hall was able to hear the discussion that took place, a discussion that seemed to be heated from the looks of things.

As soon as the wards went up the entirety of the Great Hall could see Amelia Bones, yelling at the headmaster, while the professors looked as angry as the head auror did.

Amelia Bones stalked right up to the headmaster, getting into his face. “Albus Dumbledore, what in the world has gotten into you that you would send children to the area where a non-sentient magical creature, a type of creature that is known to eat children, would be?”

Moments later the ward came down, with Dumbledore silently seething in rage for the dressing down he had gotten from the Head Auror. Hogwarts was his school, he had the right to run it how he saw fit. His professors that worked for him though, needed a reminder of this fact as they had all sided with Amelia Bones. All students would remain in the Great Hall, as would all the professors except for the Headmaster and Severus Snape who would join in on the hunt for the troll, as troll potion ingredients are hard to come by.

A short time later the troll was dispatched. Severus Snape just smirked at the aurors who turned green as he started to harvest the parts used in potions. Once done, all retired to the Great Hall to partake in the evening meal. Amelia went to sit with her niece as the men she brought with her scattered throughout the hall to sit with their own young family members. It was an especially great treat for the first years who were not used to being away from their family members.

Susan made the rounds with her aunt Amelia, to introduce her to the new friends she had made. After she had introduced her aunt to Harry, he had quietly asked Ms. Bones if at some time he could send her an owl, he had some questions for her he was hoping to get answered. Curious, Amelia granted his request, saying she would look forward to his owl, all the while thinking that he was such a polite young boy and was glad that her niece had such a friend. Though she was also curious as to why he wasn’t anything like Dumbledore had portrayed him. She had watched him when he wasn’t looking and had noticed some troubling things, how thin he was, how he would hover over his plate when someone got too close to him but would usually eat with a pureblood manner. Young Harry Potter was curious indeed and maybe she would get some answers when he wrote to her.

 

 

\--*--**--*--

Albus Dumbledore was a man who liked his pawns where he placed them. He had a mind for chess but when his pawns chose to go off script from where he placed them on the board, it forced him to reevaluate his subtle manipulations and go straight to cursing. He had imperioed a house elf to place several compulsion potions into Harry Potter’s juice. But they didn’t seem to affect the boy, not once heading toward the mirror.

“Arrgh……” screamed he screamed, picking up a bottle of the compulsion potion and threw it at the cage of the phoenix he forced to become his familiar as he twittered at the human for his failed manipulations. Fawkes was a beautiful bird, he was a crimson bird the size of a swan, and he had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock’s and gleaming golden talons. The Phoenix had originally been bonded as a familiar to the castle, to help guide the headmasters, and headmistresses, of the school, and to be a sounding board to the students. However, Dumbledore forced a bond between himself and the phoenix to ensure everyone knew the bird was his, and his alone.

If only Dumbledore knew of the invisible heir rings currently gracing the hand of the boy-who-lived, he would realize none of his current manipulations would work against the boy.

\--*--**--*--

Ron catches Harry, Blaise, Neville, and Draco at Hagrid’s at night with the dragon hatchling and gets them in trouble and detention in the forbidden forest.

Harry, Blaise, Neville, and Draco had seen Hagrid in the library looking up books on dragons. Draco dragged the other three behind him when he realized that Hagrid must have gotten a dragon; the half-giant was well known for keeping dangerous pets and Draco had always wanted to see a dragon in person, but his parents would never take their only child and heir to as dangerous a place as a dragon reserve. He always got the ‘maybe when you’re older’ speech.

A week later Harry received a letter from Hagrid letting them know that the dragon was hatching, they went down during their morning break, got there just on time to see the dragon hatch. Draco let everyone know that it was a Norwegian Ridgeback, who Hagrid named Norbert.

Ronald Weasley spotted the quartet as they made their way out of the school and decided to follow them. Maybe he could catch up to them and force Harry away from the slimy snakes and the wannabe Gryffindor. His mum said that Harry had to become his best friend if they were to get control of the other boy and have him marry Ginny to get his vaults.

The other boys had gone into Hagrid’s hut before he could reach them and decided to peak into the windows when he saw them gathered around a dragon hatchling. His brother Charlie had taught him about the different species and Ron thought the dragon was a Norwegian Ridgeback. They were going to be in so much trouble when he told McGonagall. Suddenly, the logs he was standing on shifted and his fingers made a scraping sound as a scrambled to keep from falling. Unfortunately, the noise drew the attention from those in the hut and he jumped from the logs and ran into the school to locate his head of house.

When he was done telling what he had seen, Harry, Neville, Draco, Blaise, and Hagrid had all been admonished and the four first years were given detention.

The detention had been full of fear and intrigue with the centaurs coming to rescue Harry and Neville from Voldemort who had been drinking blood from a fallen unicorn. The centaurs saved the unicorns life and sent Harry and Neville to rejoin Hagrid, Blaise, and Draco.

\--*--**--*--

Dumbledore shot a sticking charm at Harry’s hands the second he touched the face of Professor Quirrell.

Harry felt like he was floating as his legs forced him forward. He fought it, tried to throw off the spell someone had thrown at him. He couldn’t prove it, but he was sure it had been Dumbledore with the imperious curse. He had stumbled upon the curse when researching a topic and the affects were what he was currently experiencing.

 _Why can’t I let go? Oh, Merlin! I’m killing him, and I can’t let go to stop,_ he thought to himself.

Quirrell screamed and tried to throw Harry off — the pain in Harry’s head was building — he couldn’t see — he could only hear Quirrell’s terrible shrieks and Voldemort’s yells of, “KILL HIM! KILL HIM!”

Harry felt as if his hands were superglued to his Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. The pain in his head built up and he felt Quirrell’s arm wrenched from his grasp, knew all was lost, and fell into blackness, down . . . down . . .down . . .

\--*--**--*--

Between Professor McGonagall’s refusal to let him remain at Hogwarts, even after explaining how the Dursley’s treatment of him (not including the near rape) and Dumbledore’s blatant manipulation of the house cup, Harry felt sadness worm its way into his heart. The look on the Slytherins faces when Dumbledore lost them the cup was horrible. Even Blaise and Draco allowing their emotions to show in such an open setting made Harry want to cry. And the fact that the points were given to Harry, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger was even more upsetting to green-eyed imp. He felt as if he betrayed his friends. So, on the train ride home he found and empty compartment and locked the door, shutting himself into his chosen isolation.

Sometime later Draco, Blaise, Theo, Greg, Vince, Hannah, Susan, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Terry, Mandy, Michael, and Anthony were standing outside the compartment Harry had isolated himself into. They knew he was upset with how the year had ended and wanted to comfort their friend. Each compartment would fit up to fifteen students so they knew they would all fit but it was just getting inside to talk to Harry that was proving difficult until Mandy stepped forward and cast _alohamora_ unlocking the compartment and shooing everyone inside. Once they placed their trucks in the racks above their heads they all sat and faced Harry who, upon them entering, curled up in a ball on the bench.

Blaise, Draco, Theo, Vince, and Greg all knelt before Harry and pulled him into a hug. Draco pulled back from the other boys and looked at Harry’s face and sighed. “Harry” he said, waiting till the other boy’s face lifted to look at him, “we don’t blame you for losing the cup. It was Dumbledore. He manipulated the situation to take what we had worked very hard for. It wasn’t your fault.”

Harry looked around at his friends and gave a small smile. He still felt like it was his fault, and it would take some time for him to see otherwise. Instead he let his smile grow and the rest of the train ride was spent playing games and laughing with his friends.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the second of the newest two chapters, don't forget to check out chapter 5!

Summer before Second year

Warning: Attempted rape in this chapter.

Upon returning to the Dursley’s household, Harry was given Dudley’s second bedroom, it gave him more privacy but Vernon had attached multiple locks to the front of the door and added a cat flap to the bottom in order to send through food and such. So far, Harry had only been allowed out to do the chores, make the food, and use the bathroom. But after dinner he was always locked in for the night. For the past couple of weeks, he had only been given bread and water to eat. Harry knew he was already malnourished but since he had been back, Harry could already see the weight he had gained at Hogwarts during his first year start to shed. It concerned him greatly.

It was Harry’s birthday today, he had stayed up the night before to wish himself happy birthday as he has always done. The tradition of it helped him to relax. He still wasn’t used to being back with the Dursley’s after his first year at Hogwarts. But part of that might be from the looks he had been getting from Uncle Vernon whenever Aunt Petunia wasn’t in the room or had turned her back on her obese husband. _Though Vernon didn’t do it in front of Dudley either,_ Harry thought to himself.

Harry had taken a knife from the kitchen and smuggled it up to his room, it was currently hidden under his pillow. If Vernon were to try something again, other than the beatings and starving him; Harry would be ready for it. So far, Aunt Petunia hadn’t noticed it was missing and he hope she never would. He told the headmaster what life had been like with the Dursley’s but he said it must be his imagination. It made Harry angry, he didn’t make things up, he didn’t lie to the headmaster about the beatings, the cupboard, them starving him, neglecting him. He didn’t tell the headmaster about the attempted rape though. It shamed him, made him feel dirty, a freak, and weak.

Harry sighed to himself, ran a hand through his messy black hair and got up to let Hedwig from her cage so she could get some exercise before bed.

“Remember girl, you have to stay quiet” he cautioned the snowy owl. Hedwig lightly nipped Harry’s finger as he brought it up to run through her feathers. Hedwig flew slowly around the room to stretch out her wings.

Harry had been thinking lately that he should write a letter to his friends again. He hadn’t heard back from any of them, his emerald green eyes showed concern at the fact. He didn’t know why, they had all promised to write to each other. Even Neville and Draco promised to write. But nothing.

 _Maybe I should write another letter in case something happens to me,_ Harry thought. _I never know if Uncle Vernon will go too far with the beatings and with the way he is looking at me again, it has me concerned. But who to write to that would do something,_ he questioned himself. _Dumbledore’s out, Pomfrey too,_ Harry doubted she would believe him anyway with Dumbledore there at the castle. Not that he believed that Pomfrey would believe that he was imagining it. But he felt that Dumbledore would try to talk her out of helping him, explaining it away as a boy’s overactive imagination as the headmaster had tried to tell him.

McGonagall was out too, he had no idea how to reach her or Hooch or even Sprout. He hadn’t been close to Flitwick so that was another out. Quirrell was dead, Voldemort had run after he had burned the professor to ashes. Hagrid might believe him, but he was too close to Dumbledore like Pomfrey.

That left Snape. _But would the dungeon bat believe me,_ Harry asked himself. He wasn’t sure the professor would. _Though the head of Slytherin house had tried to save me during the broom incident and he had tried to protect the stone._ Harry had gotten closer to the professor as the year went on but he didn’t know the other professor too well, mostly they had just talked about Harry and Lily.

But Snape was his best bet if something were to happen to him. Harry knew that he was the youngest potions master in Britain. _Which mean he would know a lot about potions and how to treat me if I was hurt,_ Harry thought.

With his mind made up, Harry got out parchment and a quill to send Professor Snape a letter. The letter wouldn’t be sent unless Uncle Vernon really hurt him. “Hedwig, this letter doesn’t get sent unless I say so, it must go directly to Professor Snape, no one else. Okay girl?” Hedwig nodded her feathered head, showing she understood what her master was saying. With that said, Harry got up and opened the window enough for Hedwig to escape when, or if, needed. He knew if his aunt or uncle spotted the open window there would be problems, but he would deal with that when or if it happened.

Settling down at his broken desk and chair, he wrote his letter to Professor Snape.

_ Dear Professor Snape,  _

_ I am writing this to you to ask for your help. Hedwig, my owl, is only bringing this to you because my life is in danger. I need your help, I am begging for your help. You are the only one I trust to believe me. Please, if your reading this letter, you must come as quickly as you can. My life depends on it. It if ends up being too late, just know it was my Uncle Vernon. My entire life I have been treated like a freak, like I was worthless, worked harder than the house elves at Hogwarts. A few years ago, Uncle Vernon tried to rape me but he failed. But lately he has been looking at me again, the same way he did last time. I am afraid Professor. Please, please help me. _

_ Thank you, Professor,  _

_ Harry J. Potter _

_ P.S. Professor my address is 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. _

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Harry had been trying to sleep for several hours. After dinner, he had caught Uncle Vernon looking at him again. It concerned the 12-year-old a lot. He knew the man was going to try something again, he just wasn’t sure when he would try it.

He had just settled down again when he heard someone outside his door messing with the locks. He knew it was Uncle Vernon. He was going to try it again. Harry feigned sleep and reached his right arm up grab the knife. His wand was on the desk but he had heard stories about kids who used magic outside of school and didn’t wish to be expelled from Hogwarts.

**ATTEMPTED RAPE SCENE**

Vernon burst through the door and headed straight to the seemingly asleep boy. For days, he had been thinking about what he would do to the boy. His erection hardened even more at the sight of the slight teen on the small bed. This time he would have him, his wife had taken a sleeping pill that night, she would sleep like the dead just like their son.

He would be able to do anything he wanted to the boy, with no one the wiser.

Harry clutched the knife in his hand as his uncle made his toward him. He would fight, he was stronger this time. He had fought last time, he would do it again.

He panicked when he felt the bed dip down. He was terrified. When his uncle pulled the sheet down and tried to undo his pants, Harry attacked with the knife. Slashing, stabbing at the fat man, Harry tried to get away from him. The man ignored the knife and continued to fight with Harry’s pants. One good push with his feet got the man off him and on the floor. Harry scrambled to get out of the bed and headed for Hedwig. He wanted to get her loose and out of the house with the letter to Professor Snape as quickly as possible.

He managed to get to her cage before Vernon was back on his feet, holding something that glittered in the moonlight. It was the knife, Harry realized he must have dropped it when he tried to get away from the man. Quickly he unlocked Hedwig’s cage as his uncle leaped toward him. The knife poised in an arc coming towards him.

Harry fell on the floor, screaming as he felt the first thrust of the blade in his abdomen. Blood welled up as his uncle continued to slash the knife at him, puncturing his body anywhere the knife would land as Harry tried to fight him off.

**END SCENE**

Hedwig was torn between her master and grabbing the letter on the broken desk. Hedwig flew straight at the obese man who was hurting her Harry. Hedwig fought off Vernon, pecking him in the eyes and anywhere she can reach to get him off her young master, using her talons to claw at the abusive man’s body. Finally, the fat man stumbled backwards, screaming for help. Multiple loud thumps were heard as Vernon stumbled into the broken desk and chair, unable to see where he was going, the snowy owl had blinded the man in her attack. He tripped again over the chair, unable to right himself. As he fell, Vernon’s head crashed into the sharp edges of the broken desk, his head bounced off, and he flopped backwards onto the floor.

Harry choked on the blood welling up from his throat. “Hedwig, t…take the letter….to…to S…Sn…Snape.” The darkness that had been threatening to consume him, overtook his conscious thought and Harry passed out, blood soaking the carpeting below him, as his trusted owl and friend swooped out into the night.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Severus, having just risen from sleep, got up to head to the kitchen to start the coffee. It was early, around 2am, when he finally awoke from spending the last week working on difficult potions that had him sleeping very little. He had finally crashed as soon as the last potion was done around noon. He had gotten around twelve hours of sleep.

He heard a tapping sound on his window and went to investigate it. He saw a familiar looking snowy owl that he couldn’t place, a cloud of sleep still lingering over him. A letter was in its beak. Severus took the letter and noticed the owl stayed at the window. He assumed a response was required.

Severus set the letter onto the table, figuring he would read it after drinking his coffee. The snowy owl that had been waiting for him to read the letter flew at him from the window and started pecking at his hair. “Fine, you blasted bird I will read it now” he said waving his hand at the bird. Quickly he opened the letter to read, his mouth dropping open as he read.

Immediately after finishing the letter, he wandlessly and wordlessly, summoned his potions kit and his emergency medical bag. As a potions master, he had been required to take healing courses, which he had excelled at, he would often help Pomfrey in the clinic when she was overrun. He told Hedwig he would meet the owl at Potter’s residence and sent a patronus with a message to Narcissa Malfoy, informing her that he would need her help with healing and the address where to go. He made sure to include to bring Lucius with her just in case he would be needed as backup. 

The potions master apparated to the closest apparition spot to Harry Potter’s address, noting that the spot was just a few doors down from the address the boy had given him.

He went up the walk at a quick pace until he arrived in front of the house. Snape located wards around the property with his magic, sensing anti-apparition wards, anti-magic wards, anti-magical creature wards, anti-dark wards, and trace wards. He also noticed there were no blood wards and no fidelius charm. Which didn’t make sense to him. Dumbledore said that Potter was safe. None of the wards present would help the boy or keep him safe. Dumbledore had also said there were blood wards present to help keep the-boy-who-lived safe, none were present. 

Carefully, Severus maneuvered the wards to allow him through, so he could use magic to assist Potter if needed. He also maneuvered the wards so that Lucius and Narcissa would be able to enter without having to deal with the wards. He made sure that they would snap back into place after they left just in case.

Once done, he casted an alohomora to unlock the front door and made his way into the home. Turning slightly to glance outside after he heard the flapping of wings, he saw Hedwig make her way through the door and ducked his head down to avoid collision with the snowy owl. She turned and jerked her head towards the stairs and he followed her up the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible to avoid waking the inhabitants of the house.

Hedwig softly bumped her head against a door with multiple locks. Softly casting alohomora maxima, Severus gained access to the room. Immediately he saw Harry on the floor, the potions master reached the small boy and checked for a pulse. When he found none, Severus opened his medical bag and took out a portable muggle automated external defibrillator. He was hoping to restore the young boy-who-lived heart rhythm. He only used the machine because magic could be unpredictable when trying to restore a beating heart. He didn’t want to take any chances. They could heal any damage caused to the boy’s heart by the machine after they got him breathing again.

Severus had just gotten the boy’s heart restarted when Lucius and Narcissa showed up with Hedwig in the lead. He had been so invested in reviving the boy-who-lived, he hadn’t noticed the owl having left again. Severus assumed that the owl paid attention to the patronus message he had sent and had gone to greet the two Malfoy’s at the apparition point to lead them here. 

Narcissa quickly joined him on the floor next to Potter. They worked fast to heal his wounds enough to transport him. Lucius stood at the ready in case someone should attack or find them helping the boy.

Lucius glanced at the boy, he was so pale. His dark hair was a glaring contrast to the boy’s deathly pale skin. He wondered if the boy was too far gone to save. It would disappoint his son. Draco had been very excited at the beginning of their first year, that excitement had only grown as the two had gotten closer as the school year progressed. They had become great friends much to the detriment of the youngest male Weasley and the mudblood Granger.

Draco had heard all his life about the boy-who-lived, Harry Potter, and couldn’t wait to meet him. Lucius remembered the words of wonder his son expressed that Harry Potter had become his friend. Apparently, the youngest male Weasley had been on Harry’s nerves and Harry had approached his son first just to get some distance from the other male.  

Lucius sneered as he thought about the Weasley family. They were blood-traitors. They allowed the thoughts that muggles and muggleborns should be allowed into their world and change things. Most purebloods were against these ideas because it was their lives, their traditions that were being changed to make muggleborns, and by extension muggle family members, more comfortable in their world. Lucius, like many purebloods, believed that muggleborns should conform to the wizarding world, not the other way around. They didn’t want Christmas, they wanted Yule. They wanted Beltane back and Samhain. But like many things, the so-called light side, wanted to make things easier on the muggleborns entering their world and as such labeled anything that the muggleborns didn’t agree with as dark or evil.

Many purebloods didn’t actually have a problem with muggleborns so long as they were willing to live in and work in the wizarding world without changing wizarding traditions. No matter where they came from. It was harder for wizards to have children due to the constant inbreeding of some of the families, it was where the Black Family Madness came from that some members of the Black family suffered from, though his lovely wife Narcissa, nor his son Draco, have had to deal with that unfortunate genetic feature of the Black family, thank Merlin and Salazar.

Lucius stirred from his thoughts as a harsh grunt filled the air. He snapped his attention to the large body of a man lying on the floor next to a broken desk and chair. Lucius assumed that this was the man that had hurt the young boy. It sickened him, all magical children were to be protected, light, neutral, or dark didn’t matter. He had seen the boy’s pants had been lowered some, seen the cuts on the boy, the malnourishment, and the older bruises upon the boy’s skin. Magical children were to be revered, they were to be treasured; but this muggle had harmed a magical child and it made the Malfoy Lord very angry

He walked over to the man on the floor after seeing that neither Severus or Narcissa had noticed the obese man. He glared angrily at the man on the floor and kicked him hard in the side. He drew up his cane and removed his wand from where it was hidden within and pointed it at the man. “ _aquamente_ ” Lucius cast at the man to wake him the rest of the way. He didn’t care when the man cried out in pain after the water hit the man’s open wounds that were still bleeding.

Lucius looked over at Narcissa when she gasped out loud. The man gasped drawing his attention back to him. Quickly, Lucius bound and stunned the man to keep him quiet.

Narcissa had cast multiple healing spells before casting a spell to list all the boy’s injuries. The injuries came out on a piece of parchment unrolling from her wand. She gasped at all the injuries that he was suffering from, as well as injuries that he had sustained in the past. The reason she gasped though, among the severity of the injuries, was the fact that it showed many blocks that had been place upon the boy’s magic and showing that the boy, had indeed, died. The parchment stated that the boy had died tonight but was resuscitated by Severus with the use of the muggle AED machine lying next to him. He had been dead long enough that it had resulted in his creature inheritance being unleashed. He was now a fully-fledged wizard at the age 12. Though, what concerned Narcissa the most was that the parchment did not say what kind of creature the boy would become. But that would be a matter for tomorrow; for tonight, Lucius sent a message to the DMLE with what he had assumed had happened and assisted his wife and best friend with taking the young boy to his manor. Before leaving, Lucius casted “accio Harry Potter’s things”, shrank them and put them in a pocket in his robes before closing the front door behind him. He then exited the property and waited for the wards to snap back into place before following the others home.


End file.
